


but i know that we're beautiful

by ameliajessica



Series: but i know that we're beautiful [1]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Crossover, F/M, I blame amanda for everything, hp!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:09:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/745724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ameliajessica/pseuds/ameliajessica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a mistake, it had to be. Sure, it made sense for Meredith to be a Gryffindor but Lexie... she wasn't. A Ravenclaw, she'd decided on the train ride; definitely a Ravenclaw. But somehow, that didn’t happen. She had been sorted a Gryffindor. Her school career had been all downhill from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> Amanda left me a prompt THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THREE SENTENCES LONG but then INSPIRATION DECIDED TO POP IN AND HASN'T LEFT so it seemed appropriate to take advantage of that.

It was a mistake, it had to be. Sure, it made sense for Meredith to be a Gryffindor but Lexie... she wasn't. A Ravenclaw, she'd decided on the train ride; definitely a Ravenclaw. But somehow, that didn’t happen. She had been sorted a Gryffindor. Her school career had been all downhill from there.

She doesn't really know her sister (can she call her that? They share a father but aside from that Lexie doesn't know if they have anything in common) so the first few years are tough. She thinks maybe she should make more of an effort to make friends but it feels like everyone else can just  _tell_ she doesn't fit in her house so any enthusiasm about doing so disappears pretty quickly. Sure, friends are made eventually, the way they always are, but it was a slow process and she still doesn’t have anyone to call a _best_ friend; or even a close one.

So she keeps to herself, head down and studies. It's what she's best at and the teachers begin to like her even if it hasn't improved her situation with her classmates; outside of lessons she doesn’t have anywhere to go so she always just stays in the library. Her grades are impeccable and her parents are proud. The problem? It's too easy. Lexie finds herself constantly bored.

Then one day, she hears him. "Hey Derek, you got the answer to question two?" Mark Sloan. Also Gryffindor. A sixth year. Keeper of the Quidditch team. She knows him because everyone does. 

"Do your own work, Mark," Derek Shepherd, Ravenclaw, same year, Chaser, replies evenly, not lifting his eyes from his own work. Pouting,  _Mark Sloan_  settles in front of him at the table and throws his bag on the ground.

"C'mon Derek," he whines, clasping his hands together like's he's praying; begging. "McGonagall won't get off my case."

"Then just skip the question." Derek flips another page of his book, carries on writing.

"I can't! Dude, if I had in another half-completed assignment she'll kill me."

"She will," Derek agrees. 

"Then help me! You need me on the team for the next match and you know it. Karev's useless."

Derek sighs, and Lexie can't help but smile to herself. When she accidentally catches Derek's eye he smiles back and her insides feel warm. What was it the rest of the girls in the dorm call him?  _Mc_ _Dreamy_. Yeah. It makes sense.

Taking the book from him, Derek's eyes scan the page before shrugging and handing back to him. "I don't know, man."

"Dereeeeeek," he moans, and throws his head in his hands in defeat. Derek and Lexie let out a small laugh at the same time; again, Derek's gaze meets Lexie's. He smiles and rolls his eyes towards Mark and Lexie has to cover her mouth to stop from laughing too loudly. This catches Mark's attention, however, and he lifts his head in her direction.

“You’re Meredith’s sister, right?” Derek asks,

 “Meredith?” Mark asks, frowning.

“Grey,” Derek explains, and then turns back to her. “Alexandra?”

“Lexie,” she amends, clearing her throat.

“Lexie,” Derek says again and nods.

There’s an awkward silence and Mark’s still looking at her, tilting his head. “I didn’t know Grey had a sister.”

“Half,” she says quickly, too quickly, and ducks her head in embarrassment. Mark Sloan was talking to her and she was acting like an idiot. She assumes that is the end of the conversation and focuses again her book until she feels someone bump against her and suddenly Mark’s face; suddenly it's just _there_.

“Mark,” Derek warns.

“What?” He doesn’t look away from her.

“She’s a fourth year.” Derek looks at her apologetically. Lexie is too overwhelmed to react. Mark is still smirking. “She hasn’t even learnt about all the types of Transfiguration yet.”

 “I have,” she blurts out. While Derek turns to her in surprise, Mark’s grin spreads and Lexie finds herself smiling back. Confident, she says it again. “I have.”

“Check out what’s she’s reading, dude.” Derek’s eyes flicker to the cover and they widen.

“What’s a fourth year doing reading about sixth year Transfiguration?” he asked incredulously. Mark, although smug, also looked back at Lexie curiously.

“I-I got bored,” she says bluntly. Realising this explanation probably won’t suffice, she adds, “I have a photographic memory… so I can just remember things by just looking at them.”

Derek, who is thinking of going into Muggle medicine, nods knowingly.

“I got bored with fifth year stuff.” Lexie shrugs. “So I thought, why not?”

The boys laugh and it take s Lexie a moment to realise that it’s not in a mean-spirited way. “That’s amazing,” Derek breathes, shaking his head.

“Can you imagine if I had that? I’d never miss a Quidditch match again.”

“Mark you would always find a way to miss a match,” Derek sighs.

Ignoring him, Mark turns his body towards Lexie. “So, how about it Little Grey? C’mon, you’d be supporting the Gryffindor team; next time we beat the crap out of those Slytherins it’ll be all down to you. Don’t you want that kind of accomplishment?”

“Lexie don’t do anything you don’t want to.” Derek had gone back to his own work. “It’s about time he picked up his slack.”

Mark hushed him and held up a hand to him. “My slack is fine.”

“I don’t mind,” Lexie says simply, moving to look at Mark’s work when he throws an arm around her and squeezes. She hopes the squeak she lets out isn’t too audible.

“See that, Derek? That’s Gryffindor camaraderie.”

“You don’t even know what that means.”


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexie walks in on Meredith and Mark in the common room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes so it's very short but it just felt right to end it there. I don't know if any of the other chapters are gonna be longer or as long as the first one, but here you go. The next one is nearly done and a bit more acceptable. Anyway. Ahem.

The next few weeks change drastically. Sure, she only has a handful of people who want to sit next to her in class or who she can eat her meals with; that doesn’t change. But suddenly there’s hands being clapped on her shoulder in hallways, shouts of, ‘Little Grey’ whenever she passes certain classrooms. From time to time Mark even settles next to her in the common room in the evenings, meaning she quickly becomes surrounded by his friends; they’re only there for Mark but it doesn’t matter – it’s the most social she’s felt in years.

One day she walks downstairs and hears heated whispering. When she gets to the common room Meredith is pointing her finger at Mark’s chest, speaking through her teeth. Mark has both his hands up as if in surrender, but seems to be arguing back just as fervently. It’s loud enough for anyone from a fair distance to hear, but quiet enough that Lexie can’t catch what they’re saying or what they’re arguing about.

The floorboard beneath Lexie creaks and that seems to stop them. Both of their heads immediately snap towards her, Meredith’s eyes narrowing and Mark’s softening. Meredith throws one last look at him, widening them as if in warning before stalking off. Sheepishly, he approaches her, scratching the back of his head. “How you doin’ Little Grey?”

“What were you fighting about?”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” he dismisses. He ruffles her hair and while the contact feels nice – it always feels nice – she isn’t sure how she feels about it. She raises her eyebrows at him and he laughs back at her (she knows how she feels about his laugh). “Honestly, you know what Grey’s like.”

She shakes her head. “She doesn’t really… like me?” Lexie says uncertainly; she’s not sure Meredith feels _anything_ towards her. “We don’t really talk.”

“Oh she likes you,” Mark says, scoffing slightly. “Don’t worry about that.”

“Mark,” Lexie tries, but he’s already walking out, waving a hand behind him. Sighing indignantly, Lexie clutches her books to her chest and it’s only then that she realizes she hasn’t brushed her hair yet. 


	3. III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little Grey has a backbone.

She’s already late for breakfast so instead of going back to the dorm, she just pulls her hair into a ponytail. Turning her head in the mirror too, she decides it’s good enough and heads down.

“Hey,” someone beside her says sharply and when she looks up to see it’s Meredith, she chokes on her toast.

“Hi,” she rasps, worriedly wiping at the jam that is probably all over her chin. _Keep calm, Lexie. She’s just your sister._ Her eyes move nervously to the group of friends she has behind her. _Your sister and her small mob_.

“Can we, uh.” Meredith rolls her eyes at herself, clears her throat and looks directly at Lexie. Lexie is too petrified to look away. “Can we sit here?”

“With me?” she squeaks.

“Yes.” Another eye roll.

“Of – of course!” Lexie replies, anxiously moving around her plates to make room for everyone. Meredith sat down next to her, while an Asian girl sat next to Meredith. Alex Karev sat opposite the three of them, immediately helping himself to the food. A blonde with a pretty, open face and an uneasy but overall friendly boy are the only ones to properly acknowledge she’s there with nod and small smile respectively.

“So...” says the boy, a Hufflepuff. “It’s Lexie isn’t it?”

She nods vigorously.

“George,” he says, and his smile is so sweet that Lexie feels herself instantly warming to him.

“Izzie,” the blonde adds, a Ravenclaw. George looks at her appreciatively. Izzie then nudges Karev with her elbow.

“Ow! What?” he cries, irritated, his mouth full of scramble eggs. Izzie gives him a look and he looks back at her incredulously before he snaps, “My name’s Alex, okay?”

Lexie nods vigorously again.

Izzie looks around expectantly at the rest of the group.

“Fine,” the Asian girl, Ravenclaw, smiles sarcastically at them all. “I’m Cristina.”

They all turn to Meredith. “What? She knows who _I_ am.”

“Look,” Cristina says bluntly, “you need to stay away from Mark.”

“I – what?”

“Stay away from Mark,” Cristina repeats.

“Cristina!”

“What? That’s what we’re here for isn’t it?”

“You might want to have put it a bit better,” George amends. Izzie is chewing on some egg and soldiers but hums in agreement. Alex is eating, and is not involved in the conversation; Lexie wonders why he’s here at all.

“We’re _not_ –” Lexie being to argue.

“No,” Meredith interrupts. “I don’t care, just, avoid Mark Sloan. Mark Sloan is bad news.”

Something inside Lexie stirs. “ _Excuse me_. Not that it’s any of your business, I mean it’s literally not anybody’s business but ours but it’s certainly not the business of the person who’s completely ignored me for the three years I’ve been here: but Mark and I are barely friends, there’s nothing going on and therefore there’s nothing to stay away _from_.”

She only notices her voice has shifted its pitch when she’s done talking and everyone is silent. Even Karev is paying attention. Suddenly, she doesn’t feel hungry anymore, and throws her legs over the bench to get out.

“And,” she adds as she turns around one last time, “seeing as he’s had the decency to treat me like I’m worth something, I’d say Mark Sloan is a better person than you’ll ever be.”

She storms off while she’s still burning with adrenaline and when it wears off, she's standing around the corner from the Great Hall with her knees and hands trembling from what she’s been waiting to say for years. 


	4. IV

After summoning some courage, Lexie breathes out and goes to her lesson.

'Merlin,' she sighs under breath, closing her eyes briefly wearily while waiting in line. Her first lesson is Transfiguration, which she likes because she's good at but at the same time, her affinity with the subject means she can't really use it as a distraction and ends up spending the hour freaking out becasue she _shouted_ at her (half) _sister_. In the _Great Hall._ Her heart stops when she realises _Mark might have heard her_. Even now, she feels her cheeks on fire at the thought; what was she thinking?

Well, that's it isn't it? She wasn't thinking. She just got so... defensive somehow, of herself and of Mark. Of being talked down to; she'd seen Mark with other girls, she knew what he was like. His reputation preceeded him. Did Meredith think she was that clueless? That naïve? Besides, seeing as he take his pick from any of the girls in the school, what made her think he’d choose Lexie? Even if... Lexie shakes the thought ouf of her head. Being friends is fine, if that's even what they are. She barely knows Mark; she doesn't need him.

Luckily her next lesson is Defence Against the Dark Arts, her personal and consistent favourite ever since she had started at Hogwarts. Ever since it was discovered she was magical, what she had looked forward to the most had been, well, the magic part of her education. A lot of her subjects had been all theory aside from the odd spell in Charms, or even, in fact, DADA. Even so, somehow DADA had stuck out to her; perhaps the fact that the advanced textbooks were forbidden for her to read was the reason but even so, the concept of the subject itself excited her.

Dark Arts, she remembers reading in her letter. Her father had been reluctant to let her go after his experience with Ellis Grey causing him to develop a certain prejudice against the wizarding world and all it entailed; her mother had been delighted, as excited as Lexie to hear that such a world existed at all, and managed to mollify him eventually. From then, she waited excitedly for her new life to begin. Feeling like an outsider finally made sense; who she truly was, her real life, had just fallen in her lap. The Dark Arts seemed the furthest from her Muggle reality, and as a result it became what she was most attached to.

Professor Bailey seems to like her well enough; or, as much as she can. Lexie respects her professor a lot but sometimes she wonders if the woman is capable of any affectionate emotions. Her classmates don't share her feelings, and either loathe or are terrified of her.

But until then, she has a free period and because she wants to avoid the library (Mark might be there, Derek might be there), she stops in the middle of the corridor and ponders where she could spend it. Peering out the window, feeling the sun's warmth underneath it, Lexie decides it's a nice enough day to spend it outside; perhaps find a quiet tree and study there instead.

Settling against the trunk, she stretches out her legs and pulls out her textbook for a few minutes before realising she's not taking anything in. So she sets it down next to her and shuts her eyes, folding her arms across her stomach; it feels good to relax and she wishes she had nothing to worry about in that moment so that she really would.

Then there's the cold feeling of something - someone - standing in the way of the sunlight, the rustle of walking on the grass near her. Cracking one eye open and squints against the light, slamming back against the tree in surprise upon seeing who it is.


End file.
